Kevin Durant gave it all he had. A trip to the Eastern Conference Finals was in the offing, and — with fellow All-Stars Kyrie Irving sidelined and James Harden hobbled due to injury — he figured to “keep the ball in my hands a little bit more.” Not that the Nets had any choice going into yesterday’s do-or-die affair. With all the chips on the table, they were compelled to rely on the finest scorer in National Basketball Association history as often as they could. Which, under head coach Steve Nash, meant giving him little rest and handing him the reins often early, and just about every single time in the crunch.
To be sure, Durant throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, very nearly worked. In the final quarter of regulation, he put up a whopping 15 points under constant pressure. And none of his baskets proved more timely than the last, a ridiculous turnaround, fadeaway jumper with his foot on the three-point line to send the game to overtime. As things turned out, however, the Nets’ over-reliance on him led to their downfall; he took six shots in the extra period, and all six missed the mark. He even tried to replicate his hero-ball heave to send the contest to a second overtime, only to wind up not just failing to make leather and nylon meet, but actually coming up woefully short. Fatigue had set in, and how.
In due time, pundits will revisit the rubber match of the Bucks-Nets set-to and question why Nash opted for such a tight rotation. And when they do, they will likewise note that Bucks counterpart Mike Budenholzer did not fare much better. He, too, kept his vital cogs on the floor for just about the entire contest. And the decision almost resulted in him losing the match by himself. For some reason, he again forgot to involve two-time Most Valuable Player awardee Giannis Antetokounmpo in the offense for stretches at a time; armed with a four-point lead to protect in the final minute of the payoff period, for instance, he left lesser lights Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday hogging the ball and going one on one, to disappointing results.
The Bucks ultimately won, and thus left Barclays Center with smiles and sighs of relief. Antetokounmpo found himself exchanging hugs and high fives with teammates, but he could just as well have been filled with disappointment had Durant’s toe been mere inches behind the line instead of on it. Who knows? Poor decision making may again rear its ugly head in the Conference Finals, with his good spirits giving way to frustration. In the meantime, he deserves to bask in the prospect of taking yet another step forward in his journey to greatness.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.